


Reformation

by NeverMessWithTeddyBears



Category: Sanditon (TV 2019)
Genre: Character Death, F/M, Post-Finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 06:02:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23966587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeverMessWithTeddyBears/pseuds/NeverMessWithTeddyBears
Summary: Of all people, Charlotte Heywood does not expect to find Mr. Crowe knocking on her family's front door.
Relationships: Charlotte Heywood & Mr. Crowe, Charlotte Heywood & Sidney Parker, Charlotte Heywood/Sidney Parker
Comments: 26
Kudos: 78





	Reformation

**Author's Note:**

> sometimes you get a dumbass idea and handwrite five pages of it during class but never post it because it's stupid and bad and the fandom will hate it but then it's six months later and day 50 of quarantine and you say fuck it let's go

Of all people, Charlotte Heywood does not expect to find Mr. Crowe knocking on her family's front door.

He stands tall and almost imposing but, when Charlotte takes a better look at him, she finds his eyes to be clear – a sight she doesn't think she has ever seen and had doubted she ever would. However, there is pain in them she doesn't think she saw before, either – or at least not quite – and only then does Charlotte notice how pale his face is; how weak he actually looks.

He coughs and then wipes his mouth with a handkercheif, pointedly not looking at it. Charlotte knows it's improper, her parents and siblings all conveniently out at errands or school so not at the house and she in her age should not accept unsupervised visitors, but nonetheless she invites him in and offers him a cup of tea. He smiles in thanks and the sobriety of it takes her back. He would've been a handsome man, she thinks.

"What brings you here, Mr. Crowe?" she asks politely, and Charlotte wonders briefly how he even knew where to find her.

For his benefit, Mr. Crowe doesn't beat around the bush. "Well, Ms. Heywood, I'm dying." he admits and continues before Charlotte can gather herself. "My liver, you see. My drinking must have caught up with me." his smile is empty.

"I'm sorry." Charlotte hates how empty it sounds, but she can find nothing better to reply.

"Don't be." Mr. Crowe says. "I like to think it was a good life. Convince myself it was worth it."

There's an uncomfortable silence that forms then, and Charlotte struggles for a way to break it. Luckily, Mr. Crowe continues.

"I don't have any family." he says. "My parents are long dead, all relatives gone and I don't have neither siblings nor heirs." Charlotte's heart breaks for him, and she takes a sip of her tea to calm herself for she might start to cry. The warmth of her cup grounds her. "All I have is the money I didn't drink away - which is a surprising amount, I was astounded myself to discover. Not for a lack of trying." he jokes.

Charlotte finds she prefers him sober.

"The reason I am here, dear Ms. Heywood," he finally says and Charlotte is on edge. "is because I was hoping you'd do me the honor of giving me your hand in marriage."

Charlotte almost drops her cup but catches herself and shakily puts it on the table near her. " _Excuse me_?"

"I will not ask for more than you are willing to give." Mr. Crowe is quick to explain. "God knows I have been far from a saint and if you excuse my candor, I have no interest to ask those things of you." he continues and Charlotte calms. "I _just_..." he pauses, his voice soft and quiet in a way Charlotte has never heard it before. "I just wish to not die alone, Charlotte. _Ms. Heywood_." Mr. Crowe corrects himself. "And after much thought of my fortune, I would wish for you to have it, and this is the simplest way-"

"Why?" Charlotte cuts him off, all thought of propriety gone. "Excuse _my_ candor, Mr. Crowe, but are there not plenty of high society women who would wish to marry you instead?"

He briefly looks down before his eyes find hers again. "They will marry my money, not me."

"And you believe I will marry _you_?"

"I hope," his cough is back again, and this time Charlotte thinks she saw blood. "I hope you will marry a friend."

Charlotte thinks on it.

* * *

Charlotte asks permission of her father who is quick to give it once she promises it is what she truly wants, and her entire family joins her in the village church only a few days later.

Mr. Crowe brings Lord and Lady Babinggkn to serve as witnesses, both greeting them with a hug. Lord Babington doesn't seem surprised, only worried, and Lady Babington takes Charlotte to the quiet corner to ask, "Is this truly what you want?"

Charlotte reassuringly squeezes her hands in her own. "I will be fine, Esther." she says, a sad smile on her face not at her situation - she had thought and prayed on it and felt it was right for her to do - but at Mr. Crowe's tragic imminent fate. "He has been honest with me and I will be kind. He deserves a happy few months."

Esther nods and hugs her and leaves it at that.

However she tried to prepare herself to see Sidney, she wasn't ready at the sharp pain that broke her heart all over again once she saw his face. He is not with Mrs. Campion (Mr. Crowe told her she despised him) and though it is a small consolation, the thought of her still hurts. Georgiana is with Sidney instead, and she hugs her dearest friend gently and for as long as she can.

"You are a saint, Charlotte." she whispers and Charlotte shakes her head but says nothing. Mr. Crowe has told her that other than the Babingtons, Sidney and his ward, no one else knows of his condition and that he wishes to keep it that way.

" _I will die in a hunting accident._ " he said. " _My doctor knows what to do._ "

Sidney only looks at her intensely, knowing he has no right to tell her anything, and Charlotte isn't certain what would kill her more: his words or his silence. When he hugs her in congratulations, though, she tells him: "It's still you." and he tenses, his hold on her almost hurting her, but she welcomes it.

They say their vows and Mr. Crowe kisses her gently: first her hands then the corner of her mouth, and she gently smiles at him.

Later, he says: "Call me Henry."

* * *

Henry Crowe dies in his bed four months later, Charlotte holding his hand.

He is finally at peace, Charlotte thinks, and she kisses his hands before she closes them over his chest and presses another kiss at the corner of his dry mouth; what he would often do to her. The only thing he would do.

Another part of her heart breaks - but she is used to it by now - and she sheds more tears than she could count at the memory of the past few months.

Her husband had made sure she be left with a home and a sum of £30,000. At his funeral, as he is lowered to the ground, Charlotte thinks she would trade it all in a heartbeat.

* * *

A week into her marriage, she had gotten a visit from Lady Susan. With her dear friend she had spoken candidly, as she had always done since their chance meeting all those months ago.

"But are you happy, my dear Charlotte?" Lady Susan asked and Charlotte smiled kindly.

"There is only one version of this story where I could be truly happy." she answered. "And that could never be. But I am content, and that should be enough for now."

Two months into her marriage, she learned that Lady Denham has passed and has left Esther with enough fortune for a more than comfortable life. She heard that Lord and Lady Babington became investors in Mr. Parker's project. She discovered that Lady Susan invested as well, along with her dear friend the Prince Regent, and that many members of the high society followed in their stead. Learned that her own husband had promised £5,000.

Henry's shaky hand held hers as they finish dinner. Quietly but with all his strength he said, "It has come to my attention, dear, that Sidney has broken off his engagement to Mrs. Campion."

And so, eight months after Sidney Parker broke her heart, Charlotte Crowe thought she might, one day, be happy.

And her husband did not chastise her for feeling joy.

* * *

She walks into Tom Parker's office three months after the funeral.

"I was wondering if you may need an assistant." she says. "The house has become so lonely since-"

"Oh, _of course_ , Mrs. Crowe!" she barely got used to the name, it still sounding so foreign.

When Mary brings her tea, she offers, "Maybe you'll wish to stay with us for a while?"

Charlotte happily says yes. The company will do her good.

* * *

At the next ball of the season, she hears the whispers. She ignores them.

"I hear you've taken work with my brother again." the sound of Sidney's voice makes her shiver still. She turns to look at him and smiles.

"Someone needs to make sure he doesn't run himself into the ground." she jests. Sidney laughs. She's missed it so.

"Perhaps together we shall make it work." he says but there is something else in his words, in the way he says them; in how he looks at her.

"Perhaps." she replies.

He asks her to dance. Charlotte accepts.

It's as if no time has passed.

* * *

Later, months later, when it is acceptable to court her (though the whispers remain and she ignores them still) he kisses her on the mouth, fingers tangled in her hair, and for the first time in a long time she's whole again.

(But a part of her that became Henry's is broken still: but it is a comforting ache, almost.)

Later, he tells her, "You've gathered quite a few incredible friends, love. Lady Susan and Henry first above them. The funds they put in-"

She knows what they've done for her, how they gave so much for her happiness. "He was good to me. He told me he gave £5,000."

" _Five_?" Sidney asks, confused. "Lottie, he gave £15,000, and he would've given more were he not worried to leave you with less than he had promised! As soon as Lady Susan asked." he wipes the tears Charlotte didn't know she was shedding.

Charlotte smiles up at him. They kiss again.

* * *

Eighteen months after her heart was broken, it beats hard and fast and happy as she marries the love of her life.

Sanditon is now home.


End file.
